


'My son is in tears' & the Staircase Ballet - Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

by StaircaseScorpius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Book: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Gen, Good Draco Malfoy, Gryffindor Albus Severus Potter, Harry Potter Next Generation, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Spoilers, M/M, Malfoy Family Feels (Harry Potter), One Shot, Scorpius Malfoy & Albus Severus Potter Friendship, Short One Shot, Slytherin Scorpius Malfoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 12:18:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18249701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaircaseScorpius/pseuds/StaircaseScorpius
Summary: Inspired by Act Two Scene Twelve and Thirteen of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - the Staircase Ballet sequence and Draco confronting Harry about his decision to separate Albus and Scorpius.Scorpius pines for his friend after passing him on the stairs around Hogwarts and confesses to his father. Draco tries to comfort his son but doesn't quite know how.





	'My son is in tears' & the Staircase Ballet - Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

**Author's Note:**

> The Staircase Ballet sequence and music is one of my favourite parts of the play, so I wanted to expand on it and especially Scorpius's feelings during this time. The following scene features Draco's 'my son is in tears' line which also got me thinking about how that conversation went. I combined the two into a brief, angsty one-shot!

One step at a time. Just one more.

Scorpius ascended slowly, his breath catching with each step, holding back tears. The library was just a floor away and it was the safest place he knew; being enveloped by that familiar musty scent and that blanket of silence would help to still his racing thoughts.

It had only been three days, but he couldn't know how many more this would last. He saw nothing but his feet as he climbed, feeling his way with a hand on the cool stone banister, until a blur of red brushed past him and broke his reverie. 

He hiccupped, turned, and saw his friend hurrying downwards.

'Albus-' he could only manage a whisper.

Albus seemed to slow, just for a second, but didn't turn. Scorpius watched as he disappeared around a corner at the foot of the stair, probably heading for Charms. They shared no lessons now, and a brief glimpse of Albus in the corridors a couple of times a day was as much as he could hope for.

'We'll be better off without each other' - that's what he'd said. The words rang in Scorpius's ears as he continued to walk, but no matter how many times he rolled them around his mind, they didn't make any more sense.

 

* * *

 

By Saturday, nothing had changed. Scorpius ate alone at breakfast, moving further down the Slytherin table to escape the whispered conversations and furtive glances. Today, he sat facing across the table to the stone wall, the great glass windows. He didn't want to spend any more time scanning the Gryffindor side of the hall for his friend.

His father met him at the Hogwarts gates. Draco sensed the weight of something unsaid, and they walked to Hogsmeade in silence. Watery rays of sunlight dappled the path, beaming light but no warmth. Scorpius shivered. The Three Broomsticks came into view as they rounded the corner of Hogsmeade's market street, but the golden heat spilling from its door and windows only made Scorpius want to shrink further into himself.

'Can we just... keep walking?' he said, to the ground. His father murmured assent and reached out a gloved hand to pat his shoulder awkwardly. The pair continued, past the shops, past the thin crowds of students and parents, as far as the path would take them until they stood before a rickety fence, the Shrieking Shack a short way behind them. A few leaves fell from the trees as they looked towards the woods.

'Scorpius-'

'Dad-'

Draco fell silent to let his son speak. That soft blonde hair was all he could see as Scorpius kept his focus on his shoes.

'I'm sorry for not talking, I just... I'm not in the best mood... it's been a funny week.'

Draco's heart tensed at the thought of something or someone making his son unhappy, but he knew to tread carefully.

'Scorpius, you know that I am here to listen.'

A sniff. A pause.

'It's Albus. He-'

To Scorpius's horror, he found his eyes full of tears. He gulped, blinked, looked furiously at the ground. Then began again.

'He won't speak to me any more.'

Draco's thoughts were jumbled. Of all the problems he'd expected to have to solve from the moment he saw his son's hunched shoulders in the crowd of students emerging from the school - more unkind comments about those ridiculous rumours, an imperfect score on a test - this was the last on his list. He wasn't necessarily overjoyed at his son's ties to the Potters but he knew that they were reliable. Until now.

'Has he told you why?'

Scorpius shook his head slowly. His voice wavered. 'He told me we'd be better off without each other.'

A chill ran through Draco. He knew what it was to be alone. For others to know they would be better off without you.

'Scorpius, whatever the reason, I'm sure - I'm sure this is just temporary. Try not to dwell on it-'

'He won't even look at me, dad. We don't have any lessons together, I see him on the stairs and we don't - he just rushes past-'

Scorpius started to hiccup, stumbling on his words.

'He's my only friend, you know that, and if I could just talk to him, if he would just explain - I don't know what I did - what I said-'

Draco opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off again.

'He's the only one I could talk to properly, about everything - about mum - and now I'm alone and all I want is a friend, dad. He won't even look at me.'

Scorpius looked up at Draco for the first time that day, his eyes brimming with tears. Draco looked at those eyes, Astoria’s eyes, the eyes he'd first seen fourteen years ago and known in that instant that it wasn’t possible to love anything or anyone more fiercely. He'd sworn to protect his son, from darkness, from the world, but loneliness? How should he protect Scorpius from the one thing that he'd never conquered himself?

He could do nothing but pull his son into his arms and hold him as great heaving sobs wracked his body. Scorpius wept, tears rolling down the fine black wool of Draco's coat, and his father rested a hand on his soft, bright blonde hair. They stood together, arms clasped tight around each other, as the trees whispered in the breeze.

 

* * *

 

Scorpius sat alone, back against the cold stone, counting. The others had been keen to be dismissed early but he knew it meant a 7-minute wait until Divination. The fourth-floor stairs to the east of the castle were quietest in the afternoon, he'd figured out this week. A safe place to sit. He held a well-worn copy of _Unfogging the Future_ on his lap, and tried to summon the concentration to begin reading. 

Laughter and chatter floated up from the lower floors, and he closed his eyes, straining to identify the voices, to figure out if one was more familiar than the others. A low, grinding hum made it difficult to hear, and it wasn’t until he felt the book begin to slide out of his hands that he opened his eyes and realised that the staircase was moving. It tilted further, and he reached for his bag just in time to stop it tumbling down the steps. The heavy stone slowed and came to rest, linking the foot of his stairs with a new corridor. Sighing, he stood, and began to make his way down, calculating a new route to the Divination classroom in the North Tower.

Students passed in crowds through the corridor at the foot of the stairs, and as he descended he saw another staircase rising from the opposite side of the hall. Someone came down the stairs, in mirror time, and as they moved into view he realised it wasn’t someone – it was Albus.

They stepped into the hall at the same time and grey eyes met green across the corridor. Scorpius’s breath caught in his throat and his eyes began to sting. Albus looked shocked, but stayed still. The other students nearby seemed to melt away and Scorpius could hear nothing but his own heartbeat thundering in his ears.

 _Say something_ , he willed. _Anything._ He blinked, trying to stop the tears from coming, but he knew it was no use.

Albus shifted. Their gaze held, and something passed between them – a question – but Albus only frowned, and seemed to shake his head minutely. Scorpius thought he saw a flicker of sorrow behind his friend’s eyes, but it vanished before he could be sure. He saw what was coming a split second before it happened - he stepped forward, one hand raised, but it was too late. Albus looked down and away, pained but certain. The moment was broken.

Something hot and raw tore through Scorpius’s heart as he watched his only friend disappear in the tide of students moving down the corridor. All his breath left his lungs and he stifled one deep sob, falling sideways to lean against the stone wall. A wave of desperate loneliness washed over him, he gasped for air, and then - nothing. The tears dried suddenly, leaving only a dull ache in his head and his heart. The cold, heavy knowledge that it was over.

One deep breath. All he needed to do was get to Divination. A corridor, a staircase. He walked slowly, then faster. Just one step at a time. Just one. Alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the angst! We all know that the library scene happens not long after this and it all turns out okay in the end. All comments and (constructive) criticism welcome. 
> 
> You can find me on Twitter or Tumblr @trolleybitch


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